The Student Conservation Association (SCA) runs backcountry programs in wilderness settings, providing both an educational experience for participants and badly needed conservation work on public lands. As part of its risk management efforts, SCA has developed an emergency response system that ties resources in the field to all the resources of the organization as a whole, and that allows the organization to be aware of issues in the field. A carefully researched emergency response plan for each field activity identifies resources and available communications. Organizationally, on-call duty officers are a liaison and support to field staff and can connect them to a sophisticated communications system. This arrangement provides logistical and emotional support to field staff, manages internal and external communication, and assures incident documentation. The new comprehensive emergency response system utilizes many levels of staff expertise, uses staff time and resources more efficiently, and lowers costs. Four critical tools for implementing an organizational emergency response plan are the written plan itself, communications technology, staff training in emergency protocols and communications, and annual systemwide evaluation. Suggestions are offered for creating an emergency response system with limited resources. (SV)